Vince Carter had the best look of all, seeing as the last-second shot had come from his fingertips.

In the moment just after his final 3-pointer went airborne, did the Dallas forward believe he had just dealt the Spurs a heartbreaking loss at the buzzer Thursday night?

“Damn right,” Carter said.

Instead, the ball bounced once off the right side of the rim, once off the back and caromed out, preserving for the Spurs a 92-91 victory at the AT&T Center.

Not all the Spurs were aware just how close they came to blowing a game that, with 21/2 minutes left, seemed all but formality.

As Carter's shot went up, Duncan — on the sidelines due to a defensive substitution for the final 8.7 seconds of his best game in more than a month — looked away and crossed his fingers. Splitter, who had switched on Carter to disrupt the final attempt, didn't have time to turn around to see the result.

If the recent election of a pope from South America helped the Brazilian's Hail Mary find a willing ear, we'll never know. In the thick of a race for the Western Conference's top seed, the Spurs will light an extra candle in gratitude for this one not slipping away.

Behind Duncan's most dominating night since spraining his knee Feb. 2 at Washington, and a timely scoring flurry from reserve guard Gary Neal, the Spurs won their 50th game for the 14th consecutive season, extending their own NBA record.

They are 50-16 now, matching their West-leading finish from last season's lockout-shortened campaign.

After another uneven performance in a March pockmarked with them, however, the Spurs were in no mood to celebrate that accomplishment.

“We continued playing in mud, like we have for the last two weeks,” coach Gregg Popovich said, bemoaning a stagnant offense that still produced 31 assists. “I'm not sure what to attribute it to, but it's a fact.”

The Spurs rebounded from Tuesday's 24-point loss at Minnesota, but it was hardly a satisfying win, even as they claimed their first four-game season sweep of the Mavs since 1997-98.

Duncan finished with 28 points and 19 rebounds, narrowly missing his second 20-20 game of the season. The points were his most since also notching 28 on Jan. 2 at Milwaukee, the rebounds his most since grabbing 21 on Dec. 12 at Utah.

Neal added 16 points off the bench, including eight in the fourth quarter. His 3-pointer with 7:27 to go, just after Dirk Nowitzki's 3-ball had put Dallas (30-34) ahead for the first and last time, pushed the Spurs ahead for good.

In all, the Mavs led for only 19 seconds, as the Spurs held on for their 21st straight home victory against the Southwest Division.

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And yet, the Spurs — ahead by eight after Kawhi Leonard's 3-pointer with 2:37 left — nearly gave the game away with poor execution down the stretch.

It is here the Spurs probably missed All-Star point guard Tony Parker, out for the sixth straight game with a sprained left ankle, most of all.

“We're missing Tony a little bit right now,” Duncan said. “It was bound to catch up with us at some point. We're missing him, not just his scoring and his play, but his play-calling and his understanding of what Pop wants and when he wants it.”

The final three possessions — a bad Splitter miss, a shot-clock violation when Danny Green fumbled the ball to Duncan in a bad spot and a missed Manu Ginobili pull-up — were uncharacteristic of the Spurs at their best.

“Everybody wants to do it on their own,” Popovich said. “No people movement, no hard cuts. Nothing that's hard to guard.”

In the end, the game came down to Carter, 36 years old and one of the top 30 scorers of all time, staring down a game-winner. As the ball left his hand, Carter thought he'd done it.

“It looked good and felt good,” Carter said.

The Spurs could say neither about Thursday night's victory, but they'll take it nonetheless.